


put aside our doctor-patient relationship

by montes-carpatus (Carpathyah)



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Blood and Injury, Developing Relationship, F/M, Medical Inaccuracies, Medical Trauma, Pining, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-14 14:09:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29419899
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carpathyah/pseuds/montes-carpatus
Summary: Harvey received an emergency call during the night regarding the farmer.
Relationships: Harvey & Female Player (Stardew Valley), Harvey/Female Player (Stardew Valley)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 29





	put aside our doctor-patient relationship

When Harvey got the call, he felt like he was moving in slow motion. His legs were weak and his increased heart rate made him nauseous. He quickly got his coat off the hook and pulled on his boots.

He glanced at the clock on the wall of his clinic. He had twenty minutes to prepare the room. He pulled bags of saline solution out and hung them on the IV pole. He turned on his patient monitors for the first time in years. He watched the LED numbers and symbols light up.  He prepared a tray of bandages, syringes filled with anesthesia, and antiseptic agents. There were more tools on the tray than he needed, but he rather be over prepared than not enough. He cursed to himself when he glanced up at the clock, he had to go meet Pam at the bus stop. The front door stayed open as he ran down the snowy path. Pam was there to greet him as she led him onto the bus.

The limited light from the street lamps could not give him all the details to her injuries. He kneeled down and began to check for her pulse. He found it but it was weak and needing immediate medical attention. 

“Aye, she lost consciousness on the bus,” Pam explained as she helped him take her in his arms. “I called Pierre to come help out. He said he is on the way.”

She was heavier than she looked or age was catching up with him. Her suede jacket was damp to the touch and he assumed quickly to be blood. The snow had accumulated since it started and it made the way back to the clinic much rougher than usual. 

“Stay with me Layla,” he begged as he felt her body become colder. His pants were soaked from the snow. He held her tighter as he pushed through the snow. No other thoughts went through his mind other than to save her.

He heard through the vine that the daughter of the old farmer had finally come to take over the business. He didn’t think much of it. She sounded like an ordinary city girl. 

When he met her she was alone at the saloon, trying to introduce herself. She sat at the bar and drank pint after pint to keep herself busy. Her hair was long, almost down to her waist, and reminded him of coffee. She wore a heavy brown jacket over a white t-shirt. Her blue jeans were already worn partially at the knee.

Alluring, was her first impression. It was always interesting to have a new member in the community. 

He wasn’t in his safe space. The white coat was in his office and there was no counter between them. He had to time his introduction. He recited the lines in his head to give the best impression of himself to her.

After a few glasses of wine, he had finally built up the courage to go up and talk to her. She was already gone. All that was left was an empty glass and some gold.

The next time he saw her was at the Flower Dance. Standing next to Abigail, she was the only one without a white dress. Her face and chest were deepened by her time in the sun. At the time, he already asked Maru and she had said yes. She was gone before sunset.

“Hello, is the Doctor in?” a voice asked at the counter. Harvey was finishing up the prescription renewal for Mr. Mullner.

“Yeah, he is in, what seems to be the problem?” Maru replied. He moved closer to the door to eavesdrop. 

“Uhm, well, I cut my hand yesterday pretty badly,” she explained to Maru.

“I see, let me go ask,” Maru pushed through the door.

“Yes, let her in,” he replied before she had the chance. He pulled on a new pair of purple nitrile gloves as she sat down on the car. She presented her hand, wrapped in a bloody piece of cloth. 

“So, you’re Layla? It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he began. He slowly unwrapped the cloth, being careful not to rip too much of what was already healing. She winced as the cut exposed itself to the air. Harvey cleaned the wound and treated it with a topical antibiotic. Layla placed her knuckle between her teeth to divert the pain as she watched him wrap the wound carefully with medical gauze. 

“I’m going to prescribe you with some antibiotics,” he said as he pulled off his gloves. “Just to prevent an infection.”

When he caught her gaze, he found himself lost in her pale green eyes. His heart suddenly began to flutter in his chest. Harvey thought she was the most beautiful person he had ever had the pleasure of meeting. 

“Uhm, yes, here is your bill, the nurse can get you your antibiotics. Be careful next time ok?” he blurted when he snapped out of his trance. 

“Harvey!” he heard his name as he got closer to the town entrance. It was Pierre. “I got here as fast as I could. Shit, she’s cold.” He said as he inspected her wound.. Pierre helped him through the snow. The storm had picked up and the wind burned his cheeks.

The sudden light of the clinic hurt his eyes. Pierre helped him place her on the bed. Harvey got a good look at her wounds. Her white shirt was soaked through at the top of her hip bone. Her coat was more wet from the snow than the blood, however, there was a layer of sand that clung. Pierre cursed as the sand was getting everywhere. 

“Pierre, I am going to need to cut her shirt to get to the wound. Pass me anything sharp,” he ordered as she pulled on a pair of gloves. Pierre searched his coat for his pocket multitool and opened it to the knife. Harvey quickly cut a hole and with the strength he had; ripped the rest. 

He quickly attached her to the heart monitor, sticking the tabs to her chest and neck.

“Stay with us,” Harvey begged out loud as he placed the oxygen mask on her face. Blood oxygen levels were low.

Pierre stood there speechless. There was nothing he could do but stare.

“Go home,” he ordered Pierre. “I got this.”

“Do you really? You’re sweating like a pig,” he challenged. Harvey didn’t realize he was still wearing his coat. He quickly removed the layer and tossed it onto the floor. He pushed his sleeves to his elbows. He did not remember the last time there was an urgent case like this, especially in the small town. 

He looked down at the farmer with an exasperated breath. It didn’t look good.

“Help me take off her coat,” he commanded him. There was no use calling Maru to come in at this hour, in the storm, from the mountains to help him. He had to make use of the help he had.

Pierre had moved to the hallway as Harvey cleaned the wounds on her hip and prepared the area for some stitching. He held the bag with her clothes as he watched the sunrise light up the clinic. The event had made him reflect upon his own daughter. She was stubborn; wanting to go to the mines and swing a sword. It made him anxious that one day, it would be Abigail on the hospital bed. 

Harvey paid close attention to her vitals. “Come on, you’re stronger than this.”

“I have to go open the shop, Harvey,” Pierre shouted. Harvey wiped the sweat from his brow as he cut the thread. “Keep me updated.”

“Alright,” he returned. 

It was Monday. He had no appointments on Mondays. 

His eyes begged for rest but he couldn’t walk away for a second. His adrenaline levels were high, and he knew that he was going to crash at some point. 

The monitor beeped as he finished the knot of her stitches. With relief, he ripped the medical mask from his face and removed his gloves. Before sitting down on the stool, Harvey brought the blanket over her, and an additional quilt to keep her warm.

Mint looked good on her. It contrasted well against her tanned arms. She had caught him on his pilot radio, talking with an actual pilot. Not once did she seem uninterested in his speech about wanting to become a pilot. 

“Look, the plane is about to pass over us,” he smiled as she looked out the window with him. With wide eyes, she listened to him describe the model down to a T. Standing close to him, he could smell the faint scent of damp soil and tulips radiating off of her. 

Tulips became a tangible memory of her.

He saw her in his dreams. A woman looking in the distance with her long brown hair flowing in the wind. She never turned around no matter how many times he called her name. Maybe it meant something profound, like she was unattainable. He didn’t think about it too hard.

She became a favourite of many. Even George took a liking to her. It was common to see her run around town doing tasks and fulfilling wanted ads. Maybe one day, he would put an ad up.

She would bring him wine and coffee when he tended the counter of the clinic. On a particularly slow stormy day, she entered the clinic soaked head to toe with a warm cup of coffee in her hands. 

“Don’t make yourself sick for me,” he took the warm cup in his hands.

She grinned, “Maybe it would give me an excuse to come see you more often.” 

His heart hiccuped in his chest. Oh, how he would love to see her more often outside of the sickly white walls he called his clinic; to watch how the sun kissed her cheeks in the summer, or how cozy she looked reading a book in the museum’s library on a Sunday morning in the winter. 

“I want to get to know you better; put aside our doctor-patient relationship,” he firmly proclaimed as she leaned on the counter. She blushed and did not respond right away. He waited patiently for an answer. Anything.

“I would like that,” she finally replied.

It was near noon and he fought the urge to close his eyes. The only things keeping him awake were coffee and the constant beeps from the heart rate monitor. He couldn’t leave the room for long without becoming anxious about her state. He had put her on an IV drip to reduce the pain and small fever. 

He reached out to touch her hand and he gently stroked the back with his thumb. She wasn’t cold anymore. It brought him relief that he was able to keep her alive. Her long brown hair was splayed out around her head. It must be heavy in the summer, he thought, but he couldn’t imagine her with anything different. Her arms were toned from working on the farm. There were minor scars from her time in the mines. Harvey hated everything to do with the mines. He had warned her many times before to not go in there. It was a very dangerous place.

“Are you even listening to me?” he angrily shouted at her.

“You can’t tell me what to do. I had enough with orders back home,” she snapped back at him. “I won’t take it here, especially not from you.”

“I swear one day, you’re going to go in those mines and you’ll never come out!”

It pained him to remind himself to say those words again. There was no reason for him to try to control her like that. He was afraid of losing her; afraid that one day his phone would ring to tell him that she did not come up and her body was found.

He could almost cry. Tears pooled at the corner of his eyes. He almost lost her last night.

“Harvey?” he heard his name. He wiped his eyes as he looked at Layla. Her eyes were open, adjusting to the light of the room. The fatigue left him, and he could only smile in relief at seeing her awake. 

“Hey,” he sniffled as he leaned on the side rail. She weakly raised her hand to touch his cheek. “Take it easy. You’re on morphine.”

“The animals,” she croaked. 

“Marnie stopped by the farm this morning, they’ll be fine, you’ve got to rest,” he comforted. She looked distraught, like she was searching for something.

“I don’t remember what happened,” she said as she tried to sit up. Harvey tried to get her to lay back down. “Last thing I remember was being in the caverns.” She winced in pain and with a sudden rush of blood, her head spun. She slowly brought herself onto her back once more.

“You took an attack to your hip and went unconscious on the bus ride back into town. You’re safe now,” he stated.

“I’m sorry,” she murmured.

Harvey didn’t understand, “For what?”

“I should have been more careful,” she sniffled. She was drifting between sleep and staying awake. A single tear rolled down her cheek. Harvey’s heart clenched in his chest. He hated himself. He hated himself for injecting his weakness into her mind.

“Shh, I’m not mad, I am just relieved you are here,” he consoled as he pushed her hair behind her ear. 

She drifted back to sleep.

Caroline passed later in the evening with her clean coat.

“I can look after her tonight, you need to sleep,” she insisted as she placed the garment at the corner of the bed. Her motherly gaze pierced him. Unlike Pierre, who treated him like an adult, she thought of him as an older son. 

“I’m fine Caroline, thank you for the offer,” he yawned as he leaned on the door frame of the room. She fixed the blanket and clipped back Layla’s side part to keep it from falling in her face. 

“Your eyes are bloodshot. Go eat and shower,” she ordered. He opened his mouth to object again, but she had already sat down on the stool with a book to read. He had no energy to argue with her. He made sure that Layla’s IV drip was enough for the night and that the ringer still worked if there was an emergency. He lingered in the doorway for a little longer until his mind could no longer keep up with his eyes. 

The shower was welcoming. Warmth calmed his nerves. 

It took awhile for the thoughts to cease running around in his head. Harvey was haunted by the prior event. Her cold body, the feeling of a blood soaked coat, the heart monitor’s beeping of an irregular beat, cutting off her shirt with a pocket knife, it was too much.

He tried to remember all the better times. Her second flower dance. Emily had made her a white dress. It was a sight to see her out of her usual jeans and boots. Her hair was braided with mint green ribbon. Harvey thought she looked like a fairy tale princess. He rehearsed his lines in his head; to ask her to the dance, but by the time he got the courage, she refused.

“I am so sorry Harvey. I already agreed to dance with Abigail,” she apologized. 

“It’s alright,” he laughed it off.

“I’ll keep it in mind for next year though,” she winked before Abigail pulled on her hand.

That memory didn’t help his sleep. It just fueled secondhand embarrassment. He buried his face in his pillow. How could he be so stupid? It was obvious that she had another admirer. He was only an asteroid in orbit around her planet. 

Spirit’s Eve was a memory that could make him warm all over.

Dressed as a scarecrow, she found him in his usual dark corner of the maze. He hated the atmosphere. He hated how scared he got of what were decorations. At least, in his corner he was left alone until it was safe to leave and go back to his room. 

“Hey, you seem to like this spot in the maze,” she teased. “Mind if a squeeze in?”

"Uh, sure,” he replied. His old pilot costume was warm, even for a crisp evening. She just made it worse by making her way in front of him against the bushes. She was only a couple inches shorter than him; reaching him almost at eye level. In the faint glow of her ring, he saw the face paint on her cheeks. She smelled of freshly cut hay and pumpkins.

He was speechless as she adjusted the collar of his coat. His heart was beating so hard in his chest, he was convinced that she could feel it too. The air had become thick and hot as their faces inched loser...

“Layla! Where are you?” a voice called out. She pulled away.

“Guess it’s my time to go, see you around, Harvey,” she sighed before nudging him aside and running back to the entrance. He leaned against the hedge in defeat. His glasses fogged up from the sheer warmth radiating from his cheeks. The sound of his name escaping her lips rung in his mind like an alarm clock. 

In his dreams she was there again; unattainable as usual.

He didn’t call for her. Weighted down by invisible forces, he made his way to her. Every time he moved forward, it was like he hadn’t moved at all. 

When he finally reached her, his body jolted him awake with a violent twitch. He groaned and rubbed his eyes. His alarm hadn’t rang, and it was for the best. 

Harvey made his way down the steps towards the clinic with a mug of hot coffee in his hand. Caroline had fallen asleep with her back against the wall. Her book rested peacefully on her lap. Quietly, Harvey made his way to the monitors. The machine beeped a peaceful, even, tune. 

“You can go home,” he whispered as he placed his hand on her shoulder. She yawned and stretched her arms before taking the warm mug in her hands. “I assume she slept through the night.”

“She woke up once, looking for you,” she stated as Harvey began to change her IV bag of fluids. 

“Really?” he blushed. “Did she say anything about me?”

“She did.”

He waited for the continuation of her statement but there was none. 

“I’ll go help Pierre open the shop,” she put the now empty mug on the table and got up from her seat.

Harvey stared at her, anticipating more information. What did she say about him? Did she say good things? Or did she say bad things? What could he have done wrong that could have made her say bad things about him? Was it that one time... 

“Harvey,” she called firmly to catch his attention. It was the tone of a mother’s first warning when a child had misbehaved. “Be good to her.”

He nodded, ”Yes, I will.”

The wound was healing well. Colour returned to her skin. 

It was rare that he had an empty Tuesday. Maru came in for her shift at nine and was immediately startled to hear a heart monitor actually in use. The sight of seeing the farmer asleep in the bed made her even more worried. 

“Is she okay?” she whispered to him.

“Yes, she’ll be fine,” he replied. Maru sighed with relief. 

“Let me know if you need my help for anything,” Maru declared, ready to put her nurse training to work. Harvey smiled and agreed to let her know.

When Layla awoke, it was right before mid-day. The sun shined through the window and warmed up the room. He had brought her a warm cup of herbal tea and not coffee like he knew she would prefer. The caffeine would have an adverse effect on the morphine. 

“How are you feeling? Does it hurt to move?” he asked as he watched her sit up in bed. She held the covers over her chest as she took deep breaths.

“Not so bad,” she winced as she found a comfortable position to sit. 

“Take it easy,” he told her as he stressed from hearing her struggle. 

“I’ll be okay,” she reassured with a smile as she took the warm mug in her hands to periodically sip the tea. 

Harvey’s heart began to pump blood to his cheeks. He would do anything to have her smile and out of pain. He wished to be stronger; tougher, and maybe she wouldn’t have to go into those mines alone. 

By Thursday morning, she was healthy enough to start working on the farm again. He had brought her a shirt to replace the one he was forced to ruin. He had gone through his entire wardrobe to find something suitable for her. 

When he returned to the room, she was on her feet. The old pale blue shirt was oversized and peaked out from under her coat. Most of him was happy to see her radiating like the accident never happened. Part of him wished she could stay just a little bit longer. 

“I prescribed you some pain medication, and you would have to see me twice a week to change the bandages,” he professionally advised as he lingered at the doorway.

‘Yes, Dr. Harvey,” she sang as she hid something behind her back. 

“You are dismissed,’ he sighed. He wasn’t good at goodbyes.

“Wait,” she spoke as she stepped forward. With her free hand, she gently pulled him closer to her. “I’ve been meaning to give this to you. I was waiting for the right time.”

He was frozen as they stood very close together. She was warm. Her gaze was torturous as she presented to him a bouquet of sunflowers and fairy roses. 

“I want to try this,” she confessed. He could see her cheeks turn a deep shade of pink. “With you.” For a moment, his brain could not process what he was hearing and then it clicked like finding the clearest signal imaginable on his radio. He wanted to be witty, or casual with his response, but no words sounded appropriate in his head. He thought he knew the human brain, but he became a family physician. 

“I want to try this, too,” he breathed as their faces pulled towards the other. The feeling of her taking a breath tickled his mustache and set his body on fire. 

He daydreamed of a moment like this, except his hands weren’t clammy and cold. He wanted to stroke her cheek but instead placed a hand on her waist and the other around the hand holding the bouquet. Her hand was small and a little rough from working on the farm.

Their lips were about to touch when Maru called his name. Layla quickly pulled away, leaving the bouquet in his hand.

“I’ll see you Tuesday, Harvey,” she simpered before going to the counter for her medications. 

His legs were heavy as lead as he held onto the bouquet. The air was hot and intoxicating. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. It felt like time had stopped and it was still mid-day, but instead it was almost time to close.

Tuesday, he reminded himself.

**Author's Note:**

> hello, stardew fandom.


End file.
